Monday, June 13, 2011

Babyproofing your story

Not to say that you shouldn't write children's books! Ha! :)

Before I had Nathan, I was always a little envious of stay-at-home moms. They got to stay home and just wear sweatpants all day and their biggest task had to be just making dinner. I didn't see what the big deal was.

Then I had Nathan. And now...

Heh.

I consider it a great day when I get a shower sometimes. And I only have one kid!

I was sitting here, looking at the plug covers on my outlets and started thinking. What plugs are there in your story that need to be covered?

Are there any holes in your plot? Any instances where you said, "eh, no one will catch that leap right there from A to B"? (Note: An editor will catch it. So, if you want to avoid MASSIVE rewrites later, I'd recommend fixing it now!)

How about characters that more resemble Swiss cheese than real people? Real people do weird things and for weird reasons that a lot of the time, only make sense to that one person. They have faults and doubts and days where they are PMS-ing and even the word "dinner" turns them into a teary mess. Have a friend read over your story and look just at your characters. Do they seem like real people?

Once you can cover those plugs, your story will have not only seem more realistic, but it will make your reader more satisfied as well.